1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a transport device that transports, for example, a sheet such as a paper, an image reading device that reads an image recorded on a sheet transported by a transport device, and an image forming apparatus that records an image read by the image reading device.
2. Related Art
In the past, an image forming apparatus disclosed in JP-A-2003-155133 has been known as an example of an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a sheet transported by a transporter (transport device). The image forming apparatus disclosed in JP-A-2003-155133 is provided with a restricting lever (restricting member) that makes the following sheet stop and stand by at a predetermined set position in order to keep a predetermined gap between the preceding sheet and the following sheet when a plurality of sheets stacked in a paper feed section (set section) is sequentially transported one by one by the transporter toward the downstream side in a transport direction of the sheet.
The restricting lever is rotatable about a rotating shaft (shaft) that extends in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction of the sheet. The restricting lever is rotated and pushed by a push spring (pusher) so as to be positioned at a position (first position) where the end of the restricting lever always protrudes upward from a transport path of the sheet. Further, when the following sheet stopped by the restricting lever begins to be transported toward the downstream side, an electromagnetic solenoid used as an actuator is activated. Accordingly, the restricting lever is rotated against the pushing force of the push spring so as to be positioned at a position (second position) where the end of the restricting lever is retracted from the transport path of the sheet.
Meanwhile, since the restricting lever is rotatable about the rotating shaft extending in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction of the sheet in the image forming apparatus disclosed in JP-A-2003-155133, the stopping force of the restricting lever, which is positioned in the first position, for stopping the following sheet depends on the elastic force of the push spring. For this reason, when the following sheet is pushed toward the downstream side of the set position in the transport direction by a pushing force that is larger than the elastic force of the push spring and caused by, for example a user's manual operation, the restricting lever is rotated by the pushing force so as to be positioned at the second position. Further, in that case, there are concerns that the front end of the sheet gets over the restricting lever, gets past the set position toward the downstream side, and is not stopped at the set position.